In the field of wireless communication, there has been increasing demand for direct device-to-device (D2D) communication. Direct D2D communication refers to a communication mode between a pair of user equipments (UEs) that does not include a base station in a communication path between the UEs. Hence, direct D2D communication differs from traditional cellular communication in that a pair of UEs (e.g., cell phones, etc.) communicate with one another directly, rather than relaying the wireless signal through an intermediate cellular infrastructure (e.g., cell towers, etc.). Direct D2D communication has many practical advantageous over traditional cellular communication. For instance, D2D communication may potentially allow a cellular network to offload a portion of its base station traffic, as well as allow more efficient data transfer to peripheral devices, e.g., printers, cameras, personal computers (PCs), etc. In addition to these and other practical advantages, direct D2D communication may facilitate various proximity based activities and/or functions. For instance, direct D2D communication may allow users to locate nearby friends through proximity based peer identification, as well as allow local businesses to broadcast proximity-based advertisements.
For these and other reasons, direct D2D communication is likely to be adopted in one form or another by future wireless communication standards, such as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) Release 12. As such, any design architectures that would reduce the cost of implementing direct D2D signaling in next generation wireless communication devices is desirable.